In An Unknown Territory
by Fae 206
Summary: Six months ago, Todd and Vixxy lost one of their young cubs to Amos's hunting. However, when Copper's pup goes missing, will Todd be able to forgive the death of his own child in order to help the hound find his own kid. How deep does friendship run? How will the surviving fox cubs work with the pup whose master killed their sibling to get him back home.


**In An Unknown Territory**

**Chapter One**

_Vixxy smiled as she hunted down a couple of birds and other small animals. She would have sent Tod to do it but she considered herself as the better hunter of the two of them. Yes, his game had improved but someone needed to be close by to their children. She would be the provider and Tod could give them care now that they were a bit older._

_There had been four cubs which thrilled Vixxy, she had always wanted to have a big family. She had wanted to have a strong, loving, and dependable mate and she had wanted true happiness. She finally felt that it was within her reach. Vixxy got down low as she saw a thrush and kept watch of it. She steadied her breaths and …._

"_Got ya!" a young kit said as she tried to jump onto the bird and it flew away. _

"_Flora!" Vixxy said as she sat up and shook her head at her young one's playfulness. "Will you stop being so silly, young lady," she laughed before seeing Tod behind her with two fox cubs in his mouth. He looked like he had fallen in mud and a lot of his fur was wet and spiky. "Having trouble with the kids?" Vixxy asked and Tod shook his head. _

"_No," he said not letting go of the two male cubs he had in his mouth. Vixxy laughed before looking around. She could see three of her four fox cubs but she couldn't see the youngest boy, the runt of the litter. "No problem at all."_

_Vixxy felt her heart get heavier and could hear the painful thumping of it in her head. She ran back the way that Todd had come and then stopped as she heard a gun shot from the distance. Todd let the two boys in his mouth drop and he looked in fear of where the sounds had come from. The farms._

"_Maybe if I go, there might be time to save him or maybe it wasn't him," he panicked and Vixxy felt her heart stop as her children huddled around her. Todd kept moving from side to side to get a better view but it wasn't any use. He took another breath in before running as fast as he could. Maybe he was a long way from the place he had once considered home but he had to do whatever was in his power to save his child._

…_.._

_By the time that Todd reached the farming community, it was starting to be sundown and he felt exhausted but as he neared the barn where Copper lived, his eyes widened and he saw his son's body thrown upon a table. He moved forward, wishing that he could revive the young animal but it was too late. He had failed as a father, he should have been paying more attention._

"_Stop, Fox!" a new dog barked as Todd looked at the shed with the carcasses. There was no way that the woman who had raised him would be comfortable seeing all of these pelts. Todd looked to the dog, heartbreak in his eyes but he knew he could take him. _

"_I won't stop," he hissed and the dog jumped forwards but was stopped when the larger hound placed a paw on his head. _

"_Leave this one to me, Sparky," the brown hunting dog said as he moved over to Todd. "I thought you weren't dumb enough to come back, Fox," he said with a soft wink that Sparky wouldn't notice. "I said go," Copper snapped back at the younger dog and when Sparky left Copper hung his head._

"_I really didn't think you'd be dumb enough to come back here, Todd" Copper said before gently letting his head rub against the fox's but when Todd didn't respond he paused. "Don't blame me about the foxes. I can't stop it from happening and my master's taken me off fox hunting, doesn't trust me with it. Says I have a bias towards foxes." _

"_I don't blame you," Todd said in a haunted way as he went and sniffed the pelt. "You should just let them shoot me."_

"_What are you even talking about?" Copper asked. "You know that's the harsh reality of what my master does. What is it about this particular fox? Because it's a young fox?"_

"_Because that is my son's body," Todd told him and Copper could see that despite Todd not believing that it was Copper's fault that this had happened, it had definitely changed him and Copper wouldn't blame him if Todd never showed kindness to another dog in his entire life. _

**End of Chapter One**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated**


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